Progress on my 08 Silverado Z71

Just thought I would put together a thread of what I have done. Bought the truck used back in May 2011 with 36,500 miles on the clock. Its a Z71 extended cab. Came factory with the step bars and rain guard things. Currently has 56k or so miles and hasn't let me down yet!

The day I picked her up (they let me test drive it to lunch and back so that's why it still has the stickers on it)

1st mod: A set of 55w 5000k HID Low beams.2nd mod: A K&N intake but I don't have any pics of that. Whenever I get around to it, I will take one and post it here.

3rd mod: Switchback LED turn signals. I bought the SMD ones and they seem to light up really well in shaded areas and at night but I am not happy with the daylight brightness of the signals due to the safety (hard to see the signal flash in the daytime)

6th mod: Bakflip G2 bedcover plus locking tailgate (which I bought at 4wheelParts and not a stealership)
7th mod: Cree projector LED cargo lamps (also bought Cree switchback turn signals for the front at the same time) In the video, pay attention to the tree to see the light output from just the cargo lights. The light doesn't dim like it shows, that's just my iPhone auto focusing lol)

Note: I will be switching out the tail lights for LED ones eventually and either swapping for LED 3rd brake light or just swap bulbs for LED ones. I still need to do an exhaust and tune but that will happen as funds allow. I will be updating this thread as I add more mods to the truck so stay tuned.

how would you compare your cargo lamp light output to the stock light output?
Other than color because it obviously looks better...
Just wondering because when i put putco led 3rd brake light on my truck years ago,it looked great!, however i did not notice till i just replaced it with HELLA led tailights and 3rd brake light how ****ty the light output of the cheap LED cargo lamp really was!
given the Hella 3rd brake light only utilized the led brake light and the cargo lamp is 2 incandescant bulbs, more than likely same as OEM,(which was way brighter than those cargo LEDs) is there actually any leds for these that are superior in light output to our factory incandescants??? just wondering...

also, I noticed in your signature that you stated you have 2-12" type-R's with your M-1000, that must be great! however I am curious to know how exactly you made such a deep mount sub fit in an extended cab silverado? alpine type-R's are amazing! just never heard of anyone fitting them in a single, ext, or crew cab before without having to add some customization to either their seats or entire back row.
Id love to see some pics of that and im sure others might as well.
good luck with your future endeavors!

how would you compare your cargo lamp light output to the stock light output?
Other than color because it obviously looks better...
Just wondering because when i put putco led 3rd brake light on my truck years ago,it looked great!, however i did not notice till i just replaced it with HELLA led tailights and 3rd brake light how ****ty the light output of the cheap LED cargo lamp really was!
given the Hella 3rd brake light only utilized the led brake light and the cargo lamp is 2 incandescant bulbs, more than likely same as OEM,(which was way brighter than those cargo LEDs) is there actually any leds for these that are superior in light output to our factory incandescants??? just wondering...

also, I noticed in your signature that you stated you have 2-12" type-R's with your M-1000, that must be great! however I am curious to know how exactly you made such a deep mount sub fit in an extended cab silverado? alpine type-R's are amazing! just never heard of anyone fitting them in a single, ext, or crew cab before without having to add some customization to either their seats or entire back row.
Id love to see some pics of that and im sure others might as well.
good luck with your future endeavors!

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The cargo lights are brighter than the incandescent bulbs I had in there before. These LEDs have the projector style lens so it puts the light to better use than the reflector ever did. Overall I am happy with them. I have been considering the Hella 3rd brake LED light and tail lights to finish my LED swap. I'm still waiting on my Cree 7w reverse bulbs from VLed. They are supposed to be 3x brighter than the stock bulbs.

As for the alpine subs go, I had my 2 Type R's in a fairly large box in my Explorer and when I traded for my truck, I just folded up the rear seat and put the box there. I did buy a single 12" box and put one of the subs in it so I could have some rear seat space. The box is sitting on the passenger side where the single seat section folded up. It's temporary until I can figure out how to remount the rear seats higher to allow for more room. There is a new type R full sized sub that's a inch and a half more shallow than last years model. So might need to raise the seat an inch if at all. One thing for sure, I need to dynamat my roof haha

Thanks for the comments everyone. This truck is costing lots of hard earned $$ to mod but its worth it.

are those the bulbs you have pictured there???
definitely post of pictures and/or links to the bulbs you used, thanks!

oh and FYI HELLA discontinued all of its LED tailight line, (not enough demand, so a sales rep. told me) so if you want them you better hurry up, it took me going through 3 different websites that showed them in stock only to find out they were actually sold out, and the 3rd was the charm (tirerack.com).

The bulbs in the packages are the new ones. The smaller ones on the left went into the cargo lamp. The larger ones on the right are going in my front signals (replacing the 360 degree SMD ones.
Sucks to hear about the Hella lights. I am sure if they woulda advertised more, they would of had people buying them left and right. I only found them by accident lol.

Thanks. Yeah, been busy as of late. Still got to do my exhaust then tune. I think I'll be able to get the exhaust within a few months but tune will have to wait until next year I'm afraid lol. And maybe sometime next year I can get a 4" lift. I do think I'm gonna have to contact VLEDs about my reverse lights. They were supposed to ship by the end of the month but still show as back order. Maybe if I gripe long enough, I'll get a discount on a future purchase (which would be the vanity lights in the visors).

I do think I'm gonna have to contact VLEDs about my reverse lights. They were supposed to ship by the end of the month but still show as back order. Maybe if I gripe long enough, I'll get a discount on a future purchase (which would be the vanity lights in the visors).

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I'm wondering did you ever get your reverse lights, I was thinking about upgrading my interior lights with LED's from Vleds but recently I've noticed that alot of there stock either is back ordered or gone from there site all together. They also seem to have alot of "overstocked" sale items which seems to me more like a going out of business sale.